Machine for loading railway-cars.



No. 663,326; Patented Dec. 4, I900.

, w. a. DAVIS & w. B. comm.

J. L. BRANNUN S. B. BROOM, Administrator of-W B. COMER, Decd.

MACHINE FOR LOADING RAILWAY CARS.

(Application filed Aug. 18; 1900.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

No. 663,326. Patented Dec. 4, I900.

J. L. BRANNON, W. G. DAVIS & W. B. COMER s. c. snuom, Administrator of w. B. comEn, Decd. MACHINE FOR LOADING RAILWAY CARS.

(Application filed Aug. 18, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNiTE STATES JAMES L. BRANNON, OF FOGG, WILLIAM G. DAVIS, OF NASHVILLE, AND

STANLEY O. BROOM, OF OENTREVILLE, TENNESSEE, ADMINISTRATOR OF IVILLIAM B. OOMER, DECEASED.

MACHINE FOR LOADING RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,326, dated December 4, 1900.

Application filed August 18,1900. Serial No. 27,271. o model.)

To aZZ whmn it ntay concern.-

Be it known that we, JAMEs L. BRANNON, residing at Fogg, in the county of Hickman, and WILLIAM G. DAVIS, residing at Nash ville, in the county of Davidson, State of Tennessee, citizens of the United States, and VVIL- LIAM B. OOMER, deceased, late a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Fogg, in the county of Hickman and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Loading Railway-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention relates to a machine forloading railway-cars, and is especially intended for loading phosphate-rock into cars, but which may evidently be employed for loading various different materials of a like or similar nature; and it has for its objects to provide in such a machine means for effectually loading and distributing the material to every part of the car, to provide means for quickly adjusting the apparatus in operative relation to the car to be loaded and for removing the same, and, finally, it has for an object to improve and simplify the construction and render more efficient and rapid the operation of this class of machines generally.

To these ends our invention consists in the features and in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims following the description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, wherein Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan View of the entire apparatus. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the loading-machine. Fig. 3 is an end View thereof. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 4 l-of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a detail view illustrating the construction of the conveyer.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates an elevated bin or storagechamber arranged alongside of the railway track or siding, from which leads an inclined chute 2, arranged to discharge the material onto an endless carrier forming part of the loading-machine, constructed as follows:

The numeral 3 indicates the bed or base of the machine, which is firmly fixed between the bin and the railway-track, and to the opposile'sides of said bed or base are securely attached uprights or standards 4, arranged in pairs, as shown, and each having an overhanging or hook-shaped upper end 5, for-the purpose hereinafter explained. Journaled in the upper portion of each pair of standardsi is a roller 6. Arranged to slide back and forth on said rollers is a rectangular frame consisting of two parallel rods 7, rigidly united at their opposite ends by cross-bars 8 and S, which are fitted over the ends of said rods and held thereon by nuts 9. The rods 7 are held in place on .the rollers 6 .by the overhanging or hook-shaped upper ends 5 of the standards, which form guides and engage the said rods to hold the frame upon the rollers, and the latter are preferably provided with collars 10, between which the rods 7 slide and thereby prevent any lateral movement of the frame. Formed on or fixed to the cross-bars 8 and 8, intermediate of the ends of the latter, are bearings 11, in which is journaled a shaft 12, and said shaft intermediate of its ends is also loosely journaled in bearings 13, formed in or attached to the upper portions of arched brackets 14, fastened at their lower ends to the bed or base 3. Loosely arranged on the shaft 12 and between the brackets 14 is a drivepulley 15. The shaft 12 is free to be moved longitudinally in the drive-pulley, but the pulley and shaft are caused to rotate together by means of a pin or key 16, carried by the pulley and engaging a groove or key-seat 17 formed longitudinally in the shaft. The arched brackets 14 being disposed on opposite sides of the pulley 15 and in close proximity to the latter, as most clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, said pulley is held stationary or prevented from having any movement longitudinally on the shaft.

One end of the shaft 12 is extended beyond the cross-bar 8, and journaled on said extended end is a rectangular frame comprising two parallel bars 18', rigidly secured together by diagonal braces 19. In the free ends of the bars 18 is journaled a shaft 20, on which is fixed a pulley or drum 21, and a corresponding pulley or drum 22 is fixed on the shaft 12 between the ends of the bars 18. Passing around the drums or pulleys 21 and 22 is an endless carrier consisting of a flexible belt 23, to the outer face of which are riveted or otherwise suitably attached transverse metallic slats 245, the opposite ends of which are turn ed up vertically or at right angles, as at 25, to form flanges, which operate to prevent the material from falling off the carrier.

The ends of the bars 18 being loosely journaled on the end of the shaft 12, the frame, together with the endless carrier, is free to be oscillated or shifted over from one side to the other of the shaft, turning about the latter as a center, and is held in either position by means of a yoke 26, journaled on the ends of the shaft 20 and provided at its free end with aforked or notched lug 27, that is adapted to engage and rest on either one of two laterally-projecting arms or rods 28, fixed to a bracket 29, secured to the ends of the rods 7 of the sliding frame. The drum or pulley 21, about which the endless carrier passes, is preferably flanged at its opposite ends, as at 30, to prevent the carrier from slipping off; but the drum or pulley 22 is preferably made of the same diameter from end to end to permit the carrier to be shipped and unshipped when desired.

The operation of our improved apparatus is as follows: The material to be loaded onto the cars is stored in the bin 1, from which it is adapted to be discharged onto the endless carrier by the chute 2. \Vhen a car is to be loaded, it is run onto the track opposite the end of the machine, and the sliding frame is drawn out or slid upon the rollers 6 until the carrier projects over and rests above the floor of the car. The drive-pulley 15 on the shaft 12 is connected by a drive-belt to any suitable motor and rotates the shaft, which latter, through the medium of the drum or pulley 22, conveys motion to the endless carrier, and as the material is fed by the chute 2 onto the carrier the latter operates to convey and discharge the material to one end of the car. When one end of the car has been loaded,the frame carrying the endless carrier is shifted or turned over upon the end of the shaft 12 to bring the discharge end of the carrier to the opposite end of the car, when by reversing the motor or crossing the driving-belt the loading is proceeded with as before until the car has been completely loaded. During the course of loading, the sliding frame may be moved longitudinally on the rollers to cause the endless carrier to dump the material uniformly on both sides of the car, as Well as the middle, and such movement will not in any way interfere with the operation of the machine, for owing to the drivepulley 15 being splined on the shaft 12 between the brackets let the sliding frame is free to be slid back and forth without imparting a corresponding movement to the pulley.

Having thus described our invention,what we claim is- 1. In a machine for loading cars, the combination with a longitudinally-movable frame adapted to be projected transversely over the floor of a car, of an endless carrier arranged at right angles to the frame and pivotally. supported at one end on the end of said frame, said carrier being arranged to be swung in a vertical plane about its pivotal support as a center to either side of the frame to discharge alternately on opposite sides of the frame, and means for driving the endless carrier, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for loading cars, the combination with asuitable bed or base,of a frame mounted on said bed or base and longitudinally movable thereon, a shaft journaled longitudinally in bearings carried by said frame, means for d riving said shaft, a frame arranged at a right angle to said sliding frame and pivotally supported at one end on the end of said shaft, an endless carrier mounted on the pivoted frame, and means for driving the carrier from the said shaft, substantially as described.

3. In a machine for loading cars, the combination with a suitable bed or base, of a frame mounted on said bed or base and 1011- gitudinally movable thereon, a shaft journaled longitudinally in bearings carried by said frame, a drivepulley splined on said shaft, means for preventing the drive-pulley from moving on the shaft longitudinally, an endless carrier mounted at one end on the end of said shaft, and means for driving the carrier from the shaft,substantially as described.

4:. In a machine for loading cars, the combination with a suitable bed or base, of a frame longitudinally movable on said bed or base,a shaft journaled longitudinally in bearin gs carried by said frame and movable with the latter, a drive-pulley splined on the shaft, stationary bearings disposed on opposite sides of the drive-pulley in which the shaft is journaled, an endless carrier mounted at one end on the end of said shaft, and means for driving the carrier from the shaft, substantially as described.

5. In a machine for loading cars, the combination with a suitable bed or base, of a frame longitudinally movable on the bed or base,a shaft journaled longitudinally in bearings carried by said frame, means for driving the shaft, a frame pivotally mounted at one end on the end of said shaft, adrum or pulley fixed on the end of said shaft, a corresponding drum or pulley mounted in the free end of the pivoted frame, and an endless carrier arranged on said drums or pulleys, substantially as described.

6. In a machine for loading cars, the combination with a suitable bed or base, of a frame longitudinally movable on the bed or base, a shaft journaled longitudinally in bear ings carried by said frame and movable with the latter, means for driving the shaft, it

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frame pivotally mounted at one end on the end of said shaft, a drum or pulley fixed on the end of the shaft, a corresponding drum or pulley jourualed at the free end of the pivoted frame, an endless carrier arranged on the drums or pulleys, a yoke pivotally mounted on the free end of the pivoted frame and provided with a forked lug, and a bracket fixed on the end of the sliding frame and provided at its opposite ends with projecting pins or rods adapted to be engaged by said forked lug to support the free end of the pivoted carrierframe, substantially as described.

7. In a machine for loading cars, the combination with a bed or base provided with uprights or standards arranged in pairs and provided With overhanging hook-shaped upper ends, of rollers journaled in said standards beneath the hook-shaped ends, a longitudinally-movable frame comprising two parallel rods supported on the rollers beneath the hook-shaped ends of the standards and united at their ends byEcross-bars, a shaft journaled in said orossbars,means for driving the shaft, and an endless carrier mounted on the end of and driven by said shaft, substantially as de- 

